By Tim Binnall
Believing that Bigfoot lives around his property, a Mississippi man has transformed his yard into a sort of Sasquatch sanctuary, letting the elusive creature know that he is a friend, not a foe. Recently featured in a segment on a local television newscast, Earl Mangrum has placed several sizeable metal cutouts depicting the famed cryptid outside his home in the community of Flowood. "It's just a fascination of mine to keep getting them," he said of the faux Bigfoot that have begun to draw curious visitors and earned him the nickname 'Squatch Man' around town.
"I've seen them," he asserted, noting that there are "10,000 acres" of woodland across the street from his house. Mangrum's suspicion that Sasquatch resides in the community's large swaths of forest was echoed by another resident, Ken Parks, who marveled that "there is something over there." He recounted twice hearing the monstrous call of a creature that seemed to sport "a big pair of lungs" and traveled through the woods at a remarkable speed. Parks laughed that the powerful sound "scared my dogs. They ran inside and weren't going to have anything to do with it."
Reflecting on his "flock" of Sasquatches on his property, Mangrum mused that it serves a secondary purpose beyond being merely decorative as he hopes that the displays send a message to the creature that his land is a safe place for Bigfoot to roam and that he means them no harm. To that end, the Flowood resident advised others who also "live out in the woods" to convey a similar peaceful stance towards the elusive creature by way of their own cryptid cutouts.